Need to Sanitise Nigeria’s Electoral Process

The conviction of two professors who served as the Independent National Electoral Commission’s Returning Officers during the 2019 elections by the courts should encourage the commission and security agencies to prosecute more academics and others involved in electoral malfeasance so as to sanitise Nigeria’s electoral process, Wale Igbintade writes

The Court of Appeal in Calabar, Cross River State recently upheld the three-year prison sentence slammed on Professor Peter Ogban, who was found guilty in 2021 of manipulating senatorial election results in favour of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2019

Ogban’s conduct was strongly condemned by the court, which described it as a betrayal of other academics and civic duty. It expressed disappointment that a university professor would be involved in the fraudulent manipulation of election results.

A Professor of Soil Science and lecturer at the University of Calabar, Ogban served as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Returning Officer during the 2019 elections in Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District.  He was arraigned before Justice Augustine Odokwo of the Akwa Ibom State High Court on a two-count charge of fraudulently tampering with the election results in favour of the APC in the senatorial district.

According to court records, about 5,000 fraudulent votes were added to the APC tally to boost Senator Godswill Akpabio’s chances against the PDP candidate, Chris Ekpenyong.

 Despite the manipulation, Ekpenyong, a former deputy governor, eventually won the seat.

After listening to the arguments by counsel, Justice Odokwo said the prosecution was able to prove its case against Ogban beyond any reasonable doubt. He found the professor guilty of manipulating and falsifying the scores of election results in Oruk Anam and Etim Ekpo Local Government Areas (LGAs) in favour of the APC. The judge consequently sentenced him to a 36-month jail term and a fine of N100,000.

When the judgment was delivered, not only was it hailed across the country, but it was also described as a landmark decision in the nation’s jurisprudence. 

The reason for this is not far-fetched. For so long, election riggers were scarcely brought to book, and this development became an incentive for unscrupulous politicians and their cohorts in INEC to manipulate results of elections.

But no sooner had the professor been sent to prison than the case turned into a mockery of justice when another judge, Justice Pius Idiong, granted him a controversial N10 million bail, pending appeal.

As the conviction was hanging on his neck, his lawyers swung into action swiftly with an appeal at the Court of Appeal, which penultimate week, upheld the judgment of the lower court.

Also, last February, another Akwa Ibom State High Court in Uyo sentenced another academic, Professor Ignatius Uduk of the University of Uyo (UNIUYO), to three years in prison for a similar offence committed during the 2019 general election.

Uduk, a Professor of Human Kinetics, served as Collation/Returning Officer for Essien Udim State Constituency in the March 2019 elections. He stood trial on a three-count charge filed against him by INEC for announcing and publishing false results and perjury.

After suffering a series of delays and adjournments since the case was filed in December 2020, Justice Bassey Nkanang held that the prosecution counsel, Clement Onwuewunor, discharged the burden of proof that the defendant published false election results.

While the judge discharged and acquitted the defendant on count one, he found him guilty on counts two and three, and consequently, sentenced the professor to three years on each of the two counts.

The subsequent conviction of Uduk was an impressive icing on the cake. So is the decision of the Court of Appeal upholding the conviction of Ogban.

Many believe that if INEC were to summon the courage to prosecute many academics accused of electoral malfeasance, the way it did in the case of the two professors for their ignoble roles in the 2019 elections, it would help a great deal to sanitise Nigeria’s electoral process.

The then Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Mr. Mike Igini, should be commended for ensuring that the scholars were prosecuted for their despicable conduct.

While it’s proper to also commend the courts for convicting the professors, it is important to note that many RECs also abused their positions without any consequences.

Till date, nobody knows what INEC has done in the case of the suspended REC in Adamawa State, Mr. Hudu Yunusa-Ari, who caused a stir when he illegally declared the APC governorship candidate, Aisha Dahiru, popularly known as Binani, the winner of the supplementary polls in the state.

When Yunusa-Ari made the declaration, votes were still being counted, and the PDP candidate and governor of the state, Ahmadu Fintiri, was in a clear lead.

Despite his rush to file a fundamental rights enforcement suit to stop his arrest and prosecution, Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja dismissed his suit and ordered his arrest and prosecution.

Yunusa-Ari is just one example in a pool of many RECs who are card-carrying members of political parties, which is against the law. These RECs do everything possible to ensure that their parties win while other RECs who are not members of any party, are either pressured or induced financially.

Despite the introduction of technologies like the smart card reader and the permanent voter card, BVAS and IReV, elections in the country are still characterised by malpractices.

After every election, the verdicts from local and international observers are always that the election is characterised by malpractices and substantial non-compliance with guidelines and the law.

Some of the electoral frauds include forgery of permanent voter cards, interference with a ballot box or ballot papers, dereliction of duty by election officials, impersonation, falsification and alteration of results, underage voting, bribery, and electoral violence.

There are cases of vote-buying on Election Day by most of the political parties and their candidates. Political thugs, on many occasions, chase away voters, while security agents have been fingered in mass thumb printing of ballots for their masters. Politicians deploy weapons and thuggery to win at all costs.

Hanging on to technicalities, the courts often close their eyes to all these frauds. The implication is that over time, the electorate has become disillusioned with democracy with voter apathy escalating.

Repeatedly, INEC has reiterated its helplessness to rein in offenders. Under the Electoral Act, it cannot investigate or arrest offenders, but can prosecute.

It is believed that in Nigeria, electoral fraud begins from the party primaries. Although INEC has observer status during this exercise, it has no power to intervene.

Professor Attahiru Jega, in his wisdom, initiated the deployment of university academics as election officials in the 2015 general election.

Ironically, while reacting to the 2019 general election, he had expressed disappointment with university lecturers for “allegedly conniving with politicians to undermine the integrity and outcome of this year’s general elections.” 

With the conviction of the two professors and the complaints against many others, it is obvious that not all academics are men of honour and character as Jega had thought. 

Many who act as the commission’s returning officers at federal, state and local government levels have connived with politicians and their political parties to alter and write results in their favour.

INEC, itself, is not immune from malfeasance and manipulations, as it has been facing criticism for toeing this path of malpractice. It became worse after the last general election, particularly over the failure of the IReV platform.

The commission, which has been jubilating over the convictions of Professors Uduk and Ogban, knows very well that there are other academics accused of infractions during the 2019 and 2023 elections but refused to charge them to court.

For there to be integrity in elections in Nigeria, there must be consequences for bad behaviour, adding that the moment electoral officers know that assisting politicians to rig elections can land them in jail, they will think twice.

As the commission prepares for the next general election in 2027, it behoves it to insist on character and integrity in the appointment of election officials instead of appointing questionable and compromised characters recommended to it by politicians.

 The time to start headhunting credible individuals to conduct the elections as officials is now. It should cast its net wide to include other professionals in its search for honourable officials.

In addition, President Bola Tinubu’s administration and the National Assembly should do everything possible to provide a legal framework for the implementation of a wide range of reforms for the electoral body.